Slipping in right under the dead line – I pinky swore with Alita from Alita.Reads that we would both read this book in September. She totally smoked me…. but I am done with the book and here is my review. Thanks Alita – what a blast! :D

The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet’s name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book’s epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories. The occasionally contrived letters jump from incident to incident—including the formation of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society while Guernsey was under German occupation. Juliet finds in the letters not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life.

An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic “documents” such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use. The word epistolary comes from the Latin word epistola, meaning a letter.

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I know I know… I could have written my own synopsis… but honestly… I am tired and my brain is fuzzy and words to describe this delightful book are totally escaping me so if I would have written the synopsis it would have been one word:

Delightful.

Uniquely written, this book is made up entirely of letters. Yes! Letters! Correspondence back and forth, fun and witty and informative – letter by letter we piece this story together… the remarkable start of The Potato Peel Pie Society and the books they enjoyed! I love books – about books!

Pride and Prejudice

Wuthering Heights

Past and Present

The Cantebury Tales

The Pickwick Papers

Selected Essays Of Elia

The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen

Letters of Seneca

Selections from Shakespeare

I have enjoyed a few books centered around war this past year and have to say this is the best one I have read. As I mentioned earlier, books about books is really a soft sell for me…. I just love to rad about other book lovers. They fascinate me! I loved reading about other people in the “Society” and how the book club developed. I group that started out as a “cover story” that became rea… did I mention that I love that?

I know I am gushing and repeating myself and doing all sorts of things that when I read this review tomorrow I will roll my eyes – but honestly I have to get this out there – read this book! Warm and welcoming characters that will invite themselves into your heart.

This would make a wonderful book club read!

I wanted to include a recipe for Potato Peel Pie… I did not have the time to make this as I had hoped to… however if I ever get my book club to read this I think I will have to put in the effort:

2 cups raw, grated potato skins (I added some of the white part to keep the texture somewhat tender), use mashed potatoes for filling

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a small pie plate. Mix grated potato peels with egg, onion and flour. Press the mixture into the pie plate and up the sides to form a crust. Bake crust for 20-25 minutes. While the crust is baking, cook potatoes, drain and mash. You can add your favorite mashed potato flavorings here i.e. garlic, onion, milk, butter, salt, etc. Fill crust with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with beetroot. Bake in oven at lower temperature of 375 for 10 minutes or until browned.

What is your favorite book about BOOKS? I think that one of the reasons I love Tam Lin by Pamela Dean so much is all it literature references. The other is that it is steeped in myth and legend. Every time I read Tam Lin, I pick out some other title they mentioned to read next. My favorite discover this way was a play… “The Lady’s Not for Burning”

Yay! I’m glad you lived up to your promise, and I’m glad you enjoyed this book! It’s definitely a great one. So warm and cozy — which seems strange to say about a book shaped so much by war, but so it was to me.

I really enjoyed this book too! I had no idea about any sort of role the Channel Islands played in WWII. Have you ever looked up 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff? It’s a true, epistlary novel from that time period and was quite good.

When I first started this book last year, I thought it would be annoying and tedious to read this kind of format. But it didn’t take long for me to be totally caught up in the stories and the characters, who became real through their letters.

Laurel I felt the same way. As I was picking up what the book was about I was wondering if I would find a fit for me in this book. It happened so fast I didnt even mention it in my review because it just picks you up and carries you along.

Wel I’m definitely going to get this book now! I’m off to London on Monday, so I may get it there if I spot it… Put it this way, the last time I went to London I bought 4 books just from the railway station!

I am so glad that you enjoyed this. It was one of my favorite books that I read last year. I love reading books about books too. I am hopeful that this will be made into a movie someday. It is sad that Mary Ann Shaffer passed away. I think she would have written many more wonderful books.

Fantastic review and thanks for including the potato peel pie recipe. I don’t think I’m brave enough to attempt it!

I so loved this book!
Such a feel good novel but it shouldn’t be given the subject matter.
Living in the UK I never realised that Guernsey was occupied in WW2 until I read this novel.

Such a sad story of the author too. I would love to have seen more from Mary Ann Schaffer. Such a pity she waited so long to write her first novel and so sad that she is not here to see the sucess of her novel.

This was going to be the next book the book club I was starting at the library was to read. I think the book club folded. One of the members had read it already and really liked it. It is on my ever growing To Read List.